


Like an octopus stuck on your face

by badcaseofcasey



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Families of Choice, It is now, M/M, introspective fluff, is that a thing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 05:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15090134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badcaseofcasey/pseuds/badcaseofcasey
Summary: "Kent was understandably protective of his team, but something he was still sometimes surprised by was how ferociously protective they were of him."aka five times Kent convinced the Aces that Tater is a good guy and one time they saw it for themselves - except not really because I'm bad at staying on task





	Like an octopus stuck on your face

**Author's Note:**

  * For [historical_allusions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/historical_allusions/gifts).



> My contribution to Kent Parson's Birthday Bash 2018 for historical_allusions! I hope I did a good (enough) job of fulfilling your prompt and that you enjoy!
> 
> I'm not sure how I got through my entire first Kent-centric fic without talking about Kit Purrson, but that was definitely an error on my part so please forgive me.
> 
> Also I've chosen to follow Ngozi's advice and "ignore Carl" because he's a dick.
> 
> The title comes from the quote (which I cannot for the life of me find the attribution for): "Friends come and go like the waves of the ocean, but the true ones stick like an octopus on your face." - I'm not saying I'm good at titles, but I do feel like this could win an award for the most random.
> 
> And last but not least: thanks to @randomhank for the beta! You da best.

When Kent first came to the Aces, he was honestly shocked to see how supportive his teammates were of him. In Juniors and in the Q, people got along and became friends, but there was always the underlying knowledge that you were in competition with one another. The guy next to you might be the person who you depend on to win the game, but they also might be the person who ends up taking your spot in the Draft. Going first in the Draft to one of the newer clubs had not really been Kent’s plan, and he was definitely worried that people would end up hating him or resenting him or wanting to see how far they could push the Golden Boy rookie before he broke.

But getting to the Aces was nothing like that. The younger members of the team seemed excited to play with someone like Kent who had received so much press, even if they were sometimes resentful of him being given opportunities over them, and the older members were ready to take Kent under his wing.

Most of the older guys were gone now, traded or retired not too long after the expansion, but they had taken the time to make sure he settled into the city and given him advice whenever they felt he need it, even if Kent didn’t agree. He had even lived with one of the veterans before he eventually ended up finding a place with Swoops before getting the condo he owned now. (That had been a fun experience - a lot of the guys were superstitious - the second you buy a place of your own is the second you get traded to the other side of the country - but Kent figured that worst case scenario, he would end up with a vacation home in Vegas that he could put on AirBnB if he got really desperate.)

Since he got the C, Kent had noticed more and more of the rookies actually looking up to him and trying to ask  _ him _ for guidance. Kent had never been the kind of person that people tended to trust in their judgment, so having Scraps come up to him at a practice and ask about whether or not he should get into a new relationship with the season just starting gave Kent a new appreciation for the kind of responsibility that rested on his shoulders. He needed to be able to take on responsibility and be a good example for these kids in a way that had never been required of him before.

Kent was understandably protective of his team, but something he was still sometimes surprised by was how ferociously protective they were of  _ him _ .

___

Kent lazily skated around the rink, not pushing too hard, just letting the music and the sound of the crowd get him ready for the game. It was early in the season, nothing too serious was riding on tonight, but Kent couldn’t help but feel some nerves course through his body as he saw the Falconers warming up across the ice.

It wasn’t that he was worried about Jack; this was their third season playing in the NHL together and it was starting to become more like what Kent had always hoped for before everything had fallen apart. Kent had even met Bitty (officially this time) and Kent counted both him and Jack among his best friends.

So no, the nerves weren’t because of Jack, though he was sure the various blogs and sports writers would love to write an article about the “tension” between them. Kent was nervous because it was the first time that the Aces and Falconers had met up since he and Alexei had started dating.

They had known each other for years, but their off-ice relationship started to develop when Jack had invited Kent to their 4th of July barbecue the year before. Kent had been intimidated by the large Russian man who had once lifted him up with one hand, especially since he seemed to have a protective streak and Kent was still coming to grips with the variety of ways in which he had hurt Jack over the years.

But Alexei had warmed up to him and eventually and Kent realized that the attraction he felt was more than just a fleeting crush. All it took was for Alexei to look at him fondly as he dropped Kent off at home for him to make a move and they’d been together ever since.

“Hey, Cap,” Swoops skated over to him to mutter something quietly enough that others couldn’t hear. “Mashkov looks like he’s going to be gunning for you tonight.”

“Yeah?” Kent looked over at where Alexei was not even trying to hide the fact that he was staring.

“Yeah, man,” Swoops said. “He looks like he wants to like… eat you.”

Kent tried to hide his laughter at how true Swoops’ statement was, without him even knowing. “I guess I’ll just have to watch my back, huh Jeff?”

“We’ll watch it for you; you worry about getting that puck past Snowden - he’s been making some crazy saves lately,” he answered. “But Mashkov is no joke-”

“Look, Swoops,” Kent interrupted. “I promise you don’t have to worry about Mashkov. Guy’s a teddy bear.”

Rather than stick around and try to tell Jeff that his boyfriend was just horny and not at all trying to murder him on the ice, Kent did some lazy loops towards where Alexei was warming up. It had been 3 weeks since they had been able to spend time together - neither of them had been within 100 miles of each other due to their schedules - and Kent knew that Alexei was desperate for some contact.

Might as well show off, Kent thought, and spent the rest of the game doing the fancy footwork and puck handling that he knew would drive Alexei crazy.

Two minutes into the first period, Alexei got him up against a wall and murmured in his ear, “You distracting me on purpose, kotyonok.”

“Who, me?” Kent asked, using his hips to get Alexei out of the way enough that he could shoot the puck over to Swoops. “Would I do such a thing?” He smirked as Alexei shot him a half-offended, half-turned-on look as he skated off.

Throughout the game, Alexei came up with any excuse to run into Kent; nothing too rough - they had decided long ago that they would try to avoid starting shit on the ice - but enough for Kent to rush through showering and press so that he could get to Alexei’s apartment as soon as possible.

As he was toweling off, he heard Swoops yell across the locker room. “What the hell did you do to piss Mashkov off? He wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Yeah, what was that about?” Scraps asked from where he was sitting next to Kent.

“It was no big deal; I handled it, didn’t I?” Kent said, not really wanting to talk about this when he could be on his way home to see Alexei.

“You could have let us help, if you needed,” Scraps said. “We’ve got your back, Cap.”

“I said I handled it,” Kent said. “It’s no big deal; like I said, Mashkov’s a teddy bear.”

“He wasn’t looking at you like he was a teddy bear,” Swoops said. “I swear he was out to get you today.”

Kent huffed out a sigh and looked around the room to make sure there weren’t any cameras around. “Look, it’s not my problem if my boyfriend can’t keep it in his pants for  _ one _ game. I can’t help it if I’m irresistible.”

There was a moment of silence; it seemed like the Aces were trying to decide if he was joking or not.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Scraps cried. “If you had let me know you were interested in dating I would have set you up with one of my friends. No need to go off and fuck Mashkov.”

The rest of the Aces took this as their cue to start chirping Kent about fraternizing with the enemy. It wasn’t exactly how he’d planned to come out to the team, but everyone seemed to have taken it in stride.

As he got ready to go he checked his phone and saw a text from Alexei waiting for him.

_ Was tired of waiting, so left for apartment. _ _  
_ _ Will see you when you and Aces are done goofing off in locker room ))) _

Kent shook his head and laughed at his impatient boyfriend. 

_ I’m on my way - try not to start without me. _

___

Coming out to the team had been even less of an issue than Kent had expected. There were a few people who were noticeably skittish around him or conspicuously silent when other players were trying to be supportive or chirping Kent about Alexei. But overall, it had been almost a non-event.

Things went on as normal, with the guys coming over periodically to raid his booze stash and use his Wii to play Smash Bros. Now was one such time, with Scraps and Swoops spreading out over his plush armchairs and couch, controllers in hand. 

Halfway through the match, Scraps piped up from his spot on the couch.  “So, what’s it like?”

“Who are you even talking to right now?” Jeff asked, desperately trying to keep his Kirby from falling off the edge.

“Kent - I’m talking to Kent,” Scraps said. “And I wanna know - what’s it like for your boyfriend to check you into the boards so hard you see stars?”

“Wait, yeah - isn’t that like… spousal abuse?” Jeff agreed.

“We’re not spouses,” Kent said, directing the full force of his Samus towards Swoops’ Kirby. “And it’s not abuse, it’s hockey. We all knew what we signed up for.”

“Do you guys have to like, work it out ahead of time every game?” Scraps asked. “What if one of you checks the other and you get hurt? Alexei’s a big guy, I wouldn’t blame him if he accidentally hit a little harder than he was planning to.”

“What the fuck guys?” Kent was trying not to get angry at what they were saying; they were just being protective. But the idea that Alexei would ever really hurt him, either on purpose or accidentally, was making him see red. “Lexi would never hurt me - not like that. What the hell makes you think that one day he might end up like, what, putting me in the hospital? I thought you guys were cool with this.”

“We are cool - we just don’t want you to get hurt or anything,” Jeff defended. “And we want to know if we should expect either of you to be pulling your punches when we play each other. Just ‘cause you’re dating doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have your teammates’ backs if something goes down.”

“Guys,” Kent paused the game and looked at his teammates, feeling sentimental all of a sudden. “I will always have your backs. I’m your captain - doesn’t matter who I’m dating.”

“Woah, Parser, no need to get all teary-eyed,” Jeff said. “We just wanna know if you dating Mashkov is gonna have to change our game.”

“Yeah, you’re not gonna get pissed if one of us checks Mashkov, are you?” Scraps said. “Because it’s basically unavoidable if we want to win a game once in a while.”

“I’ll only get pissed if it’s a dirty hit - you know I hate that shit anyway, though,” Kent said. 

He had been actively trying to improve his reactions to members of his team trying to bend the rules, and had been keeping a close eye on himself, as well. Winning a game wasn’t worth a suspension - or worse, knowing that you could have taken someone out of the game, maybe even permanently. The team had been good about it and it had been something they all made a point of discussing in post-game locker rooms or pressers.

Jeff sighed and sunk back into the couch. “All right, Parson. We’ll let it go this time - but next time maybe give us a heads up before you start fraternizing with the enemy.”

Kent rolled his eyes. It was nice to know that his friends were still able to chirp him, even when being almost overbearingly protective.

“Seriously though, why didn’t you tell me you were interested?” Scraps asked. “I have a gay cousin - he would have like, died and gone to heaven if I had set you guys up.”

“Thanks anyway, Scraps,” Kent said.

So they didn’t quite get it - but almost. And almost was a hell of a lot better than it could have been.

___

The Aces were coming off the ice hot after a road win against Boston. They had had a bit of a lull recently, so the win was particularly sweet, especially when it involved beating the Bruins into oblivion. 

That wasn’t why Kent was excited, though; well, it wasn’t  _ just _ why he was excited. Playing in Boston meant being close enough to spend the night at Alexei’s and after a few weeks of not seeing one another Kent couldn’t wait. As he stepped out of the showers, toweling his hair distractedly, he noticed a tall form near his stall and broke out into a smile. It looked like Alexei couldn’t wait either

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kent said, wrapping his arms around Alexei’s waist from behind.

“Come to see cute boyfriend dominate against Bruins,” Alexei said, leaning back into Kent. “Figured it would be nice if I kept surprise. Swoops get me tickets.”

Kent looked at Swoops, his glare accusatory. He let go of Alexei to start gathering his stuff.

“What? I wanted you to be surprised,” Swoops said. “I guess I’ll allow the enemy into the locker room if it means you getting out of this funk you’ve been in lately.”

“I have not been in a funk,” Kent said. The way Jeff rolled his eyes meant that he understood that was Kent for “thank you.”

“Come, get changed before press get here,” Alexei said. “Don’t want to have to wait for you to answer a million questions about how good a hockey player you are before we get to go home.”

“Someone’s eager,” Kent said, as if he wasn’t exactly the same way.

“I have food waiting at home - your favorite.”

“What are we waiting for, then?” Kent said, shoving his shirt over his head. “You should have led with that.”

“You more excited to see food than you are to see me?” Alexei asked.

Kent paused in getting his stuff together to kiss Alexei - nothing too raunchy for the locker room, but definitely enough to show Alexei exactly how much he missed him.

___

Kent and the guys were out on the town, celebrating finally making it to their bye week. They were progressing well through the season, and they all needed to let off a little steam after the busy few weeks they’d been having. They went to one of their favorite clubs, one where they could have fun without being noticed. The staff all knew them and knew not to make a big deal, so they could just relax and enjoy a few drinks without being worried that there would be a hundred photos of them online the next day.

Kent was having fun with the guys; really, he was. He just wanted to check in on things, so he pulled out his phone once they sat down to have a drink. Alexei was still going strong with the Falconers in their run for the cup and Kent couldn’t help but miss him.

“Who’s that on the phone?” Swoops asked. “It better not be Mashkov. You know the rules: no WAGs on our nights out.”

“Alexei isn’t a WAG though,” Kent complained. He and Alexei hadn’t spoken yet that day and okay, he admits he was getting kind of pathetic, but like, his boyfriend was really great so he was allowed. One of the side effects of being in a relationship, Kent had discovered, was that he immediately wanted to talk to or be with Alexei the moment he got anywhere near drunk.

“Stop trying to find a loophole so you can abandon us to go talk to your boyfriend,” Swoops yelled, trying (and failing) to snatch the phone out of Kent’s hand.

“We need a better name than WAGs,” Scraps said from the couch that didn’t currently have two grown men fighting over an iphone on it. “We don’t want to like, exclude Alexei and Kent.”

“#HockeyIsForEveryone,” chirped Swoops from where he was underneath Kent’s armpit, hands outstretched for the phone.

“I’m serious, I’m gonna google it - someone else has to have figured this out before us,” Scraps said, clumsily typing “gender neutral WAGS” into his phone.

“Jeff, seriously, come on,” Kent whined. “Can’t I just go talk to my boyfriend? This is interrupting the night exactly the same amount as if I were talking to Alexei right now.”

“SOAPS!” Scraps cried triumphantly. “Significant Others and Partners - it’s SOAPs now, guys.”

“SOAPS!” Jeff echoed, finally distracted from his quest for Kent’s phone. “We’ll have a SOAP box, guys! That’s so perfect. I need to text Alyssa right now. Does Alexei want to be added into their group chat?”

Kent grabbed his phone and hastily began typing out a message to Alexei. “I don’t know - it’s not really like he’s  _ just  _ a SOAP. And he’d be the only guy.”

_ Team has decided WAGs too heteronormative - you are now a SOAP. _

_ What mean SOAP? You are out drinking, yes? ))) _

_ Stop chirping me with those stupid smileys. Yes, I’m out drinking. Why aren’t you here again? _

“Alyssa wants Mashkov’s phone number - she says they already renamed the group chat,” Swoops said. Kent just gave him the middle finger in response. He was talking to Alexei now; Swoops’ questions could wait.

_ Promised boyfriend I would win Stanley Cup for him. _

_ Oh yeah, I seem to remember something like that… he must be some guy if you’re gonna win an entire championship for him. _

_ Yeah. Some guy ))) _

_ Don’t be surprised if you get added to a group chat of a bunch of hockey wives. Swoops is plotting. _

_ Okay, won’t be surprised. Drink some water before bed. _

Kent smiled at Alexei trying to take care of him and sent back a single heart in response.

___

Kent was feeling pretty excited - for the first time, it seemed like the league was actually kind of taking Hockey Is For Everyone Month seriously. Having an out player in the league like Jack Zimmermann did wonders for getting the various higher-ups behind the cause.

For February, they had planned a friendly game outside of the regular schedule, with teams made up of whichever players wanted to come and show their support, so of course they ended up having quite a few Falconers and Aces, with the other teams’ representation a lot more scattered. The NHL players would be split up into two teams along with LGBT hockey players from local leagues around the country and the ticket sales would be going to a variety of outreach and assistance organizations. Both of the teams’ jerseys had rainbow numbers and everyone was playing with Pride tape and it was quite frankly almost over the top.

Kent looked out at where his teammates were goofing around and marveled at how much the league culture had changed since he got drafted. The stands were filling in slowly but surely and none of the NHL players were having any trouble interacting with their local league counterparts. Tater and Jack were laughing near one of the goals and Jack had somehow swung it so Bittle was going to be on the ice on their team as one of the local players.

“Stop staring at your boyfriend,” Swoops skated by, circling Kent where he stood. “I know you’re excited to finally get to play with him, but not everyone on the ice needs to know about the hard-on you have for each other’s hockey.”

“We talking about Parser’s hard-on for his boyfriend?” Scraps said, coming to a quick stop next to Kent and showering him with ice. “Keep it in your pants, eh?”

“Shut up, assholes,” Kent said. “Not my fault he’s so pretty when he’s slamming people into the boards.”

Scraps made an exaggerated face and pretended to gag. Kent’s Captain side was glad to see Scraps being able to chirp him properly and not just idolize him for a change. The kid was growing up. But Kent’s more childish side wanted to stick his tongue out, so he did.

“Such a drama queen, I swear,” Swoops said, rolling his eyes.

“You’re both just jealous - you wish your girlfriends could play hockey as well as Alexei.”

“I’m just glad I’m not on y’all’s team,” Jeff responded. “This has got to be rigged, though - how do you, Tater, Zimmermann  _ and _ his boyfriend all end up on the same team?”

“Because you’re right - it’s rigged,” Kent smirked at them both, skating backwards towards the rest of his team. “Should’ve signed up to be You Can Play ambassador when you had the chance.”

Scraps and Swoops both gave Kent a surreptitious middle finger before going to mingle with the rest of their teammates, making sure to spend some time with some of the local league players, which was basically the entire point of the evening.

Kent revelled in the cool air against his face as he skated over to where Alexei was waiting.

“Hey babe,” he said. They weren’t officially out, yet, but Kent figured this was as safe a space as any. “How are you feeling? Think we’re gonna crush those guys?”

“Of course,” Tater said, wrapping an arm around Kent’s waist to keep him close. “You and me on same team? Unstoppable. Plus, our locals look very strong.”

“I just can’t wait to stay over at your place. It’s been way too long,” Kent said, starting to pass a puck back and forth between himself and Alexei to at least make a show of warming up.

“Just two weeks make you this desperate?” Alexei said. “I were just in Vegas during bye week.”

“Too long,” Kent repeated. “When are you gonna get yourself traded to Vegas so we can run away together?”

“Maybe when I decide I want to play for shitty team, then I get traded,” Alexei said. “For now, we can play together tonight.”

Swoops and Scraps made a show of exaggerated kissy faces as they whipped past Kent and Alexei during one of their drills. Kent shook his head. The guys had gotten used to him and Alexei dating by now, but that just meant that the chirping had reached new heights. Kent wasn’t sure which he preferred, to be honest.

Alexei hip checked Kent lightly. “You ready to kick asses?”

Kent smirked over at him briefly before skating over to the bench to get ready to play. Tonight he would get to have Alexei all to himself; but for now, he could enjoy having the chance to play on the same team for once, even if it meant dealing with all the chirps from his teammates.

___

It was stupid, really. Kent  _ should _ know better after so many years in the NHL. He went after a puck that he had no business going after and as he was falling, he felt the Schooner’s d-man’s stick catch and pull his leg at an angle that it was definitely not meant to be capable of bending.

_ That can’t be good _ , he barely had time to think before he hit the ice and pain shot up from where his leg was limp against the ice.

The crowd was roaring, but Kent couldn’t really register anything but the searing pain in his leg. He felt sick to his stomach and he knew this was the kind of injury that could take him out for the rest of the season. The image of the trainers telling him that he was done rattled around in his head as he was stretchered off the ice - he hadn’t been able to stand up his head was spinning so badly.

He managed to make it through the assessment with the trainer without puking or passing out, which he’s going to count as a win. They tell him he twisted his knee and that he may have torn his meniscus but he’ll have to go to the hospital to get it x-rayed. They strapped a bag of ice onto his knee and that was helping a bit with the pain, but they wouldn’t give him the good stuff in case they needed to give him something else at the hospital.

The trainers convinced him to head to the hospital instead of going back out to the bench for the last period and he took the crutch they offered him to stumble into the car. He knew that the guys would probably follow once they were done with the game, but for now it was just him and Jake, one of the trainers. It was hard getting into the car with his knee, but they made it and soon he was sitting on a hospital bed, his leg elevated, waiting to talk to the doctor about what kind of tests they needed to do when the door burst open and Alexei came through, face panicked.

“Kent,” he said, hands immediately coming up to cup Kent’s cheeks, checking him over as if he needed to see for himself that he was really okay. He leaned in to kiss Kent on the forehead and stayed there, soaking in Kent’s presence.

“Lexi, you didn’t have to come all this way,” Kent mumbled into his shoulder. “You guys have a game tomorrow.”

“I am healthy scratch,” Alexei said, still not letting Kent go. “Family emergency. Wanted to be here to help and we have two days off after tomorrow, so I can be here through weekend.”

Kent knew that the exhaustion and pain from the past hour was starting to catch up with him because his eyes went a little misty at the idea of Alexei as his family.

At that point, the doctor came in and let Kent know that they wanted to do an MRI to confirm whether or not there were any tears in the cartilage around the knee, but that it would be okay for him to get some pain meds before that, so he would have a nurse coming in shortly to give him some meds and that they would order the MRI.

“It might be a few hours before they can fit you in - it’s been a busy evening, so get comfortable,” the nurse said when she came into administer the medication. “They’re having me give you the good stuff, so that should be too hard.”

Alexei watched as she pushed the medication into Kent’s IV. “What can I do to help?”

“Just keep him entertained,” she said. “He might be tired, so let him sleep if that’s the case; we’ll wake him up when it’s time, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

The nurse smiled back at them as she left, and Kent knew that Alexei must be pretty adorable the way he was fawning over him. He was pretty fond if it, himself, and he felt his smile grow fuzzy at the edges as the medicine began to work through his system.

“I’m happy you’re here,” he mumbled. His eyes were starting to feel heavy and he felt like he had finally relaxed. Whether that was the pain meds or the fact that Alexei was there, Kent wasn’t quite sure. “Even if you didn’t have to, and you shouldn’t be missing a game just because I fucked up.”

“Shh,” Alexei said. “You can sleep until the doctor comes back for MRI. Been a long day, ().”

Kent closed his eyes and felt his breathing even out. The next thing he knew, there were hushed voices all around him and Kent could hear Swoops whispering nearby.

“He was trying something risky and man, he needs to start being more careful,” he was saying. “He’s not the same young guy he was and the last thing we need is for him to get hurt or even taken out for good on a risky play during a game that doesn’t even really matter.”

“Kent is strong, pig-headed,” Alexei responded. Kent could feel the rumble of his chest where they were pressed up together on the hospital bed. Alexei must have sat next to him while Kent was asleep, as Kent was cuddled up to him as he tended to do whenever they shared a bed.

“Yeah, we know he’s strong.” That was Scraps - his whispering was audibly louder than Swoops’. “We’re here to back him up and he needs to trust that we will. And if we can’t, for whatever reason, and we lose, then that’s on  _ all _ of us, not just him.”

“Try telling him that,” Swoops snorted, then paused. “No seriously, Alexei, try telling him that. He might hear it better coming from you than he does when we say it.”

Kent managed to open his eyes and tried to direct a glare in the direction of Swoops’ voice. “Are you trying to get my boyfriend to tell me what to do?”

“Hey, Cap,” Swoops said. “We just weren’t sure how much we trust your judgement, after a stupid move like that.”

Kent rolled his eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Scraps asked. “The rest of the guys wanted to come and visit but we told them to wait and see. We weren’t sure if it would be like… overwhelming to end up with like, 400 guys in the room all wondering if you were gonna be able to play this weekend.”

“No talk about playing yet,” Alexei said. “Don’t want to encourage him, he needs to be resting.”

“How are you feeling?” Scraps asked.

“Honestly? A little like shit,” Kent said. “But I feel like I just had a really good nap.”

“It looked… bad,” Swoops said. “Like, bad enough that I was not even a little surprised to find Alexei here when I got here because it looked so bad. Your leg was in an entirely different direction than it’s meant to be.”

“Did it really look that bad?” Kent asked. “God, I knew it was a stupid move. Sorry, babe.”

Alexei looked down at him. “Is okay. I know you were trying to win for team, but it was very scary to see on television and not know if you were okay.”

Kent leaned his head into Alexei’s shoulder, the solid weight of him reassuring that they were both okay.

Kent looked around and realized that he was seeing his family, there in the hotel room with him. These guys had become his family in Vegas and Alexei had become his family and he felt like he felt more loved and supported than he had let himself feel in a long time.

And no matter how it all turned out, he knew it would be okay. Because he would have these guys by his side every step of the way.


End file.
